2016 / Health and well-being, Stress, Urban

Living in Cities, Naturally

Citation

Hartig, T., & Kahn, P. H. (2016). Living in cities, naturally. Science, 352(6288), 938–940. doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf3759

Link to file

City life comes with plenty of everyday stress, and nature can help soften that. Trees along the streets, green roofs, community gardens, parks, open spaces, and connected networks of walking and biking paths all give people a chance to slow down, breathe, and reset. Those opportunities and up to real public health benefits.

These same features help the environment too, in two ways. They support wildlife and natural processes directly, and they also shape how people feel about the natural world. When nature is part of daily life, people tend to care more about protecting it.

Research on how nature affects mental well-being makes a strong case for building it into the design of our cities. The more parks, greenery, and safe routes for walking and biking are woven into our architecture, infrastructure, and public spaces, the healthier both people and communities can become.

Abstract

Natural features, settings, and processes in urban areas can help to reduce stress associated with urban life. In this and other ways, public health benefits from, street trees, green roofs, community gardens, parks and open spaces, and extensive connective pathways for walking and biking. Such urban design provisions can also yield ecological benefits, not only directly but also through the role they play in shaping attitudes toward the environment and environmental protection. Knowledge of the psychological benefits of nature experience supports efforts to better integrate nature into the architecture, infrastructure, and public spaces of urban areas.